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As a complete surprise, this morning I received a copy of the HIPA Awards 2017-2018 limited edition book.

I entered the competition last year, and my monochromatic image went through to the second round of judging, but unfortunately no further. However, as per terms and conditions of participations, selected images could be used on the book.

The book cover is by Paul Nicklen, a great nature photographer and environmentalist whose work you should familiarise yourself with.

HIPA has come a long way since it started, initially exhibiting the winning images in Dubai and at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Admittedly, it is more famous for the very generous cash prizes for award winners, but with each edition it matures and is drawing more and more big names in photography, which is reflected in this year's book.

My image is on page 160, in the Black and White category. It was shot in Patagonia, Argentina, and features Mount Fitzroy in the background with dead trees in the foreground. It was shot on a Nikon D810 with Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 lens. It's an image I'm very proud of and is hanging in my office wall. It's great to see it printed in a book format, specially alongside very famous names and selected by such an impressive team of judges.

The Patagonian landscape image featured in this book is available for sale as print from the store. Click here to see it.

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https://nandophoto.com/blogs/blog/the-british-photography-awards-public-voting-now-open2018-11-06T21:09:00+00:002018-11-26T12:50:44+00:00The British Photography Awards - Voting now closedNando MachadoThis year has been very good so far, with some of my work being awarded and shortlisted in different international competitions. The latest piece of good news came yesterday via email, when I was informed that I had been shortlisted for the Documentary category at the British Photography Awards.

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This year has been very good so far, with some of my work being awarded and shortlisted in different international competitions. The latest piece of good news came yesterday via email, when I was informed that I had been shortlisted for the Documentary category at the British Photography Awards. It is an honour to have my work selected, but the most important thing is that the project from which the image originated, which I feel very strongly about, is getting more and more exposure!

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https://nandophoto.com/blogs/blog/gdt-european-photographer-of-the-year-2018-highly-commended2018-10-28T18:42:00+00:002018-10-30T15:15:10+00:00GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 - Highly Commended!Nando MachadoLast Friday one of my photos was highly commended at the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018. The image, entitled "Indigenous Boy With Baby Sloth" has been awarded in the "Man and Nature" category, which aims to highlight the relationship between people and the environment. In this image, this relationship is a negative one. Namely, wildlife being captured and used for selfies.

This image of an indigenous boy holding a baby sloth is from a four-month long investigative project by World Animal Protection to assess impacts of the selfie phenomenon on wildlife. During the project it was found that many tourists unknowingly engage in unregulated, illegal and harmful selfies with wild animals, which can die prematurely due to mishandling and severe, constant stress. More awareness and responsible photography are needed to protect wildlife as ecotourism grows in the Amazon.

Many tourists visiting the Brazilian Amazon rainforest join day-tours with the specific aim of seeing native wildlife. Most are neither surprised nor upset to encounter these animals in captivity, and tour guides are quick in explaining that the local people keeping these animals do so the same way that cats and dogs are kept in more urban settings: “it’s their pet”, is the usual explanation. The same explanation is used for all animals presented in the tours, from the anacondas that are kept in empty ice coolers until it’s taken out for selfies with tourists, to the caiman alligators that have their mouth bound by a string so that they won’t bite while being held, to the baby sloths, which are too weak and slow to show any signs of displeasure and distress. Adult sloths are usually not used because their claws are strong, so these babies are separate from their parents once captured.

The high turnover of these captive animals can only be noticed when visiting the same places over a length of time. The amount of animal replacement suggests something went wrong with the previous animals. The cultural demand for selfies with wildlife is a complex cultural phenomenon which has a serious, long-lasting environmental and social impacts in places like the Brazilian rainforest.

These issues need to be understood and addressed, and working alongside World Animal Protection made me feel I was doing my part to expose and improve the situation.

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https://nandophoto.com/blogs/blog/my-gear2018-10-21T14:51:32+01:002018-10-21T14:51:32+01:00My GearNando Machado
We all have our favourite photography brands and gear. This is my list of essentials and non-essential (but nice) items to create images with.

This is my list of essentials and non-essential items to create images.

Camera

Nikon D810. This is my main camera body at the moment. I will soon upgrade to the D850.

Fuji X-Pro 2 . I still have the X-Pro 1, which I use when doing street photography because it's smaller, lighter, and much more discreet than my Nikon full-frame bodies.

Lenses

Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 . Super-wide angle zoom that is great to create dramatic landscape images. It will distort the image in the corners because of the angle of view, of course, but it's becoming my favourite lens.

Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 . Standard zoom lens ideal for travel photography. It's just wide enough and long enough to cover most situations inside the built environment of cities.

Tamron 70-200 f2.8 . My only telephoto lens at the moment. I bought this instead of Nikon's own brand because of the price difference. It's good for most situations, but it does have problems resolving smaller details. There's an updated version of this lens, but my is still doing what it does best and I'm happy with it.

Tripod

SIRUI T-1204X . Light and small, so good for travelling. I bought it after a colleague recommended it, and I have no regrets.

SIRUI G-20X Ball Head . It's small, affordable and relatively light-weight, which were deciding factors for me. It's not the best head there is, but it gets the job done.

Other

Nikon DK-19 Rubber Eyecup . This will make your life better. It simply allows you to press your eye into the eyecup, thus covering light-spill and allowing you to see more clearly. I'm also about to start using a DK-17M, which enlarges the viewfinder size by 1.2x.